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Webster 1913 Edition

Pale

Pale

(pāl)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Paler
(pāl′ẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Palest
.]
[F.
pâle
, fr.
pâlir
to turn pale, L.
pallere
to be or look pale. Cf.
Appall
,
Fallow
,
pall
,
Verb.
I.
,
Pallid
.]
1.
Wanting in color; not ruddy; dusky white; pallid; wan;
as, a
pale
face; a
pale
red; a
pale
blue.
“Pale as a forpined ghost.”
Chaucer.
Speechless he stood and
pale
.
Milton.
They are not of complexion red or
pale
.
T. Randolph.
2.
Not bright or brilliant; of a faint luster or hue; dim;
as, the
pale
light of the moon
.
The night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little
paler
.
Shakespeare
☞ Pale is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pale-colored, pale-eyed, pale-faced, pale-looking, etc.

Pale

,
Noun.
Paleness; pallor.
[R.]
Shak.

Pale

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Paled
(pāld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Paling
.]
To turn pale; to lose color or luster.
Whittier.
Apt to
pale
at a trodden worm.
Mrs. Browning.

Pale

,
Verb.
T.
To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
The glowworm shows the matin to be near,
And ’gins to
pale
his uneffectual fire.
Shakespeare

Pale

,
Noun.
[F.
pal
, fr. L.
palus
: cf. D.
paal
. See
Pole
a stake, and 1st
Pallet
.]
1.
A pointed stake or slat, either driven into the ground, or fastened to a rail at the top and bottom, for fencing or inclosing; a picket.
Deer creep through when a
pale
tumbles down.
Mortimer.
2.
That which incloses or fences in; a boundary; a limit; a fence; a palisade.
“Within one pale or hedge.”
Robynson (More's Utopia).
3.
A space or field having bounds or limits; a limited region or place; an inclosure; – often used figuratively.
“To walk the studious cloister's pale.”
Milton.
“Out of the pale of civilization.”
Macaulay.
5.
A stripe or band, as on a garment.
Chaucer.
6.
(Her.)
One of the greater ordinaries, being a broad perpendicular stripe in an escutcheon, equally distant from the two edges, and occupying one third of it.
7.
A cheese scoop.
Simmonds.
8.
(Shipbuilding)
A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.

Pale

,
Verb.
T.
To inclose with pales, or as with pales; to encircle; to encompass; to fence off.
[Your isle, which stands] ribbed and
paled
in
With rocks unscalable and roaring waters.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Pale

PALE

,
Adj.
[L. palleo,pallidus.]
1.
White or whitish; wan; deficient in color; not ruddy or fresh of color; as a pale face or skin; pale cheeks. We say also, a pale red, a pale blue,that is, a whitish red or blue. Pale is not precisely synonymous with white, as it usually denotes what we call wan, a darkish dun white.
2.
Not bright; not shining; of a faint luster; dim; as the pale light of the moon.
The night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little paler.

PALE

,
Verb.
T.
To make pale.

PALE

,
Noun.
[L. palus; coinciding with Eng. pole, as well as pale. It has the elements of L. pala,a spade or shovel.]
1.
A narrow board pointed or sharpened at one end, used in fencing or inclosing. This is with us more generally called a picket.
2.
A pointed stake; hence to empale,which see.
3.
An inclosure; properly,that which incloses, like fence, limit; hence,the space inclosed. He was born within the pale of the church; within the pale of christianity.
4.
District; limited territory.
5.
In heraldry, an ordinary, consisting of two perpendicular lines drawn from the top to the base of the escutcheon, and containing the third middle part of the field.

PALE

,
Verb.
T.
To inclose with pales or stakes.
1.
To inclose; to encompass.

Definition 2024

Pale

Pale

See also: pale, palé, pâle, palë, palę, pale-, and pâlé

Italian

Proper noun

Pale f

  1. a Roman god

Anagrams

pale

pale

See also: Pale, palé, pâle, palë, påle, palę, pale-, and pâlé

English

Adjective

pale ‎(comparative paler, superlative palest)

  1. Light in color.
    I have pale yellow wallpaper.‎
    She had pale skin because she didn't get much sunlight.‎
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter IX”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”
  2. (of human skin) Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
    His face turned pale after hearing about his mother's death.‎
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess:
      Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
  3. Feeble, faint.
    He is but a pale shadow of his former self.
Synonyms
  • (human skin): See also Wikisaurus:pallid
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

pale ‎(third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

  1. (intransitive) To turn pale; to lose colour.
    • Elizabeth Browning
      Apt to pale at a trodden worm.
  2. (intransitive) To become insignificant.
    2006 New York Times Its financing pales next to the tens of billions that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have at its disposal, ...
    • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
      The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
  3. (transitive) To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
    • Shakespeare
      The glowworm shows the matin to be near, / And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

pale

  1. (obsolete) Paleness; pallor.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From Middle English [Term?], a borrowing from Old French pal, from Latin pālus ‎(“stake, prop”).

Noun

pale ‎(plural pales)

  1. A wooden stake; a picket.
    • Mortimer
      Deer creep through when a pale tumbles down.
  2. (archaic) Fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
    • 1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, Richmond 1957, p. 13:
      Fourthly, they shall not vpon any occasion whatsoeuer breake downe any of our pales, or come into any of our Townes or forts by any other waies, issues or ports then ordinary [...].
  3. (by extension) Limits, bounds (especially before of).
    • Milton
      to walk the studious cloister's pale
    • 1900, Jack London, Son of the Wolf:The Wisdom of the Trail:
      Men so situated, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted.
    • 1919, B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols, Searchlights on Health:When and Whom to Marry:
      All things considered, we advise the male reader to keep his desires in check till he is at least twenty-five, and the female not to enter the pale of wedlock until she has attained the age of twenty.
  4. The bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment in civilized company, in the phrase beyond the pale.
  5. (heraldry) A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
  6. (archaic) A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.
    1. (historical) The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
    2. (historical) The territory around Calais under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
      • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 402:
        He knows the fortifications – crumbling – and beyond the city walls the lands of the Pale, its woods, villages and marshes, its sluices, dykes and canals.
      • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 73:
        A low-lying, marshy enclave stretching eighteen miles along the coast and pushing some eight to ten miles inland, the Pale of Calais nestled between French Picardy to the west and, to the east, the imperial-dominated territories of Flanders.
    3. (historical) A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live.
  7. (archaic) The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
  8. A cheese scoop.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Simmonds to this entry?)
  9. A shore for bracing a timber before it is fastened.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spencer to this entry?)
Translations

Verb

pale ‎(third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

  1. To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
    [Your isle, which stands] ribbed and paled in / With rocks unscalable and roaring waters. — Shakespeare.

Related terms

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: promise · obliged · ourselves · #912: pale · happiness · religion · dress

Anagrams

Estonian

Noun

pale ‎(genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

  1. cheek

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

French

Etymology

From Latin pāla ‎(“shovel, spade”).

Noun

pale f ‎(plural pales)

  1. blade (of a propeller etc)
  2. vane (of a windmill etc)

Anagrams

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French parler ‎(“talk, speak”)

Verb

pale

  1. to talk, to speak

Italian

Noun

pale f

  1. plural of pala

Anagrams

Kurdish

Noun

pale ?

  1. worker

Latin

Noun

pāle

  1. vocative singular of pālus

References

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈpalɛ]

Participle

pale

  1. third-person plural present of paliś

Norman

Etymology

From Old French pale, from Latin pallidus ‎(“pale, pallid”).

Adjective

pale m, f

  1. (Jersey) pale

Synonyms

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin pallidus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpa.lə/

Adjective

pale m ‎(oblique and nominative feminine singular pale)

  1. pale, whitish or having little color

Descendants

Polish

Noun

pale

  1. nominative plural of pal
  2. accusative plural of pal
  3. vocative plural of pal

Swahili

Adjective

pale

  1. Pa class inflected form of -le.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus ‎(“pale, pallid”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: pāl, IPA(key): /peɪl/
  • Rhymes: -eɪl
  • Homophone: pail

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